


Landlubbers

by tbmd1066



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-17
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-05-27 04:45:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6270139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tbmd1066/pseuds/tbmd1066
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levi has a lot of secrets, and Hange is rather too inquisitive for his comfort. But then, Levi has a history of caring for people he shouldn't, and Hange fits that description more than anyone he's ever met. Will Levi put everything on the line to answer her questions?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

All three of them liked the surface, even though they all knew that it could be dangerous as close to shore as they usually hunted. They braved it anyways, though. Isabel liked to be daring, Farlan wanted to keep an eye on her, and Levi just liked to feel the warmth of the sun on his face. Aside from it being pleasant, it made him feel nostalgic. Levi usually never complained about going to the surface. He only didn’t like going up when it was raining. However, Isabel did _not_ mind the rain and this could cause disagreements. 

“It’s barely _dripping!_ ” she exclaimed. "The sun is still out!" 

"There's clouds coming in from the northwest." Levi replied. 

Isabel pouted and turned to Farlan for help. Farlan sighed. 

“If it was a front coming in from the south, I’d agree with you, Levi, but from the northwest it’s most likely going to dissipate before it even reaches the beach. Isabel’s right, it’s just a light shower.” 

“We might see a rainbow!” Isabel grinned at him, bright and excited, and if Levi couldn't convince her to give it up, he couldn’t let her down.

“Fine.” he said, and Isabel cheered. “But I might not go up.”

“That’s fine!” Isabel said. “You can keep your fins furled.” before Levi even had a chance to respond to her, she was speeding away.

“Hey, Isabel, wait up!” Farlan shouted after her, and then he and Levi were off.

Levi loved racing through the water. When he was swimming this fast, it almost felt like flying. The drag and currents of the ocean seemed to practically disappear, water ripping through his gills so fast he felt almost high. 

“Levi!” Isabel shouted. “Levi!” 

Reluctantly, Levi slowed his pace so that Isabel and Farlan could catch up to him. 

“Sorry.” Levi said with a faint smile. 

“Adrenaline junkie.” Farlan teased, tugging on one of Levi’s headfins. Levi shrugged him off. “You just gonna spin around in circles while we splash up there?”

Levi looked up to the glistening surface above, rolling with light and strength, but also flickering under the light assault of rain.

“I’ll stay down here.”

Levi watched Farlan and Isabel win up to the surface to splash each other senseless and enjoy the sun peeking around the rainclouds. He cringed at the thought of the rain. He supposed that they would make him go up if they saw a rainbow, which was likely today. Levi wasn’t sure how he would get out of that one. He wouldn’t be able to dissuade Isabel. Levi turned lazily in the water, looking away from the surface. He flicked his tail, creating bubbles that sparkled in the filtering sunlight. 

Sometimes Levi wasn’t sure if it was better to be alone than to be with Isabel and Farlan. He had always thought that it was. It was safer alone, he had thought. He could fend for himself out here. He didn’t need anyone. But then Farlan had come to the area, and had refused to be chased away from Levi’s hunting grounds. That wasn’t to imply that Levi hadn’t _tried_ to drive him off, often violently and with scathing verbal insults. Farlan just didn’t seem to _mind_ that much. Eventually Levi gave up. Isabel had a much easier time of worming her way into Levi’s heart, since she cheated and got there by route of Farlan’s approval. In theory, she should have been more difficult for Levi to warm up to. She was scruffy, and loud, and abrasive. She shouted more often than spoke and chewed food with her mouth open, allowing bits of food to float out of her mouth into the water around her. All of these things were traits that Levi hated, yet he absolutely spoiled Isabel.

Levi looked up again to the turbulent surface and his eyes widened in shock. There was a fishing boat coming from behind Isabel and Farlan. Its net reached deep; they wouldn’t have time to get below it now, Levi realized. 

“Farlan!” he shouted. “Isabel! Get down!” They couldn’t hear him. He swam forward and didn’t hesitate for a second to thrust his head up into the rain to scream at them to get down. Levi saw Farlan’s face grow pale as he grabbed Isabel by the shoulder and shoved her down. Now underwater, they had to swim to the side to get past the boat, but it was speeding fast through the water, and neither of them were as fast as Levi. They almost got past the opening of the net, but there were hooks on the front of it and Levi could only watch as one of them caught Isabel by the neck, leaving a bright red cloud pouring out into the water around her and Farlan.

“No!” Levi screamed. Farlan reached for Isabel and grasped at the hook that was still imbedded in her skin. Levi darted towards them. “Farlan! The motor! Move!” he screamed. Farlan, so dedicated in trying to keep Isabel conscious didn’t seem to hear him. The motor sliced through Farlan’s body before he even had a chance to look up. Levi didn’t reach them before he saw the light fade from their eyes.

“No, no, no!” he kept swimming towards the net, regardless of his own safety. In reaching for his family, Levi caught his arm on one of the hooks on the net. He barely felt it. “Farlan! Isabel! Isabel?” His arm and tail were both caught in the net now, there was a hook in his face. He couldn’t see Isabel anymore, just a cloud of red and black. The sharp scent of blood flooding his nose. “Isabel?!” he screamed. “Isabel?” he tried to throw himself forward, to get to her, to try and stop the blood, to bring her back. He couldn’t save Farlan, he couldn’t see her. The hook in his arm dragged down to his elbow, he could feel scales dislodging from his tail. Thrashing in the net, red was all he could see, blood all he could smell. Overwhelmed by emotion, he couldn’t even feel the pain of a fishing hook ripping into his temple. The red surrounded him completely until it, and everything else, was gone. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> oh great, perfect time to update, now that all the characters in this are fucking dead.

“Erwin, you wanted to talk to me?” Hange said, poking her head into his office. 

“Yes, come in.” Erwin gestured to the chair in front of his desk. Hange didn’t like that chair. It made her feel like Erwin was about to send her to detention after school for sticking gum to someone’s seat. However, she wasn’t a child in trouble, and Erwin wasn’t a principal, so she suppressed the feeling and sat anyways. 

“What’s up?”

“You’ve requested more staff.” Erwin said, straight to the point. 

“Yes.” Hange said. “As it is, we have ten members of staff, including you, the treasurer, our _one_ PR guy and the janitorial staff.” she said. “Only five of us actually work with the animals, including me, the only one with a doctorate in marine biology.” she said. “The other four are all wildly underpaid grad students looking for extra credit and experience.”

“I know, but the key there is _underpaid.”_ Erwin said. “We don't have the funds to hire any more staff, Hange. If you can get interns, go for it. Paid staff? Not a chance. Whatever little governmental aid we get goes into the animals, anything else to PR to try and get private donations.”

“That's what I figured.” Hange sighed. “Though offering internships is a good idea. Moblit is the TA for the introductory biology course at the university this semester. I’ll see if he can ask any of his students. But that won’t really fix the problem.” she said. “Eld needs help in PR.”

Erwin rubbed his eyes. “No shit.” he said. “I want to open this place up for public tours, or for school trips, both ideally… But we’ve got a hell of a long way to go before we get there.”

Hange smiled. “I know.” she said. “But I think we will, Erwin.”

Erwin hummed, unconvinced. “Well, just know that if I _do_ hire anyone, it’ll be an assistant for Eld.”

Hange nodded. “I understand. But I do think we should see about internships.”

“That’s fine.” Erwin said. “At the least, we might get a little more publicity.”

Hange’s cellphone buzzed in her pocket. “If you’re looking for donations from college kids, you’re insane.” Erwin laughed as she checked her phone.

「Where are you??!」— Mobilt

_「Erwin’s office. Why what’s up?」_

Hange looked back at Erwin. “It sounds like Moblit’s panicking about something. I’d better go help—“ her phone buzzed again, distracting her.

「We just got a call in. Severely injured merman. COME TO THE VAN RIGHT NOW PLEASE.」

“Holy shit!” Hange exclaimed.

“What?” Erwin asked.

“I think you’re about to get that publicity you were wanting!” Hange shouted as she dashed out the door.

 

 

Moblit briefed Hange in the van on the way to the pier. Some fisherman had been out in their usual waters when their motor had caught on something. They’d hoisted their net up and found three merpeople. Two were already dead, but one was bleeding with fluttering gills and a pulse.He had several lacerations on his head and neck, and the fishermen seemed uncertain as to whether he would survive. They were on their way to meet up with Fins of Freedom now. 

There was a lot of controversy when it came to merpeople. They were an incredibly secretive species, and almost nothing was known about them, from their powers to their anatomy. More important, possibly, was that no one knew what their characters could be like. Were they vicious, mindless monsters, like the dragons, or were they helpful, intelligent and kind like the dryads? Hange was disposed to believe it would be the latter. She had always loved the ocean, and the idea of people who lived in it delighted her.

The idea of getting concrete evidence for the age-old debate over the character of merpeople delighted her even more.

Moblit pulled up to the edge of the dock and flung open the door while the fisherman were still tethering their boat. Hange ran to the boat and clambered on board, in full defiance of basic personal safety. The merman was lying partially in a cooler, with fins flopping out, but at least his gills were submerged, and they were still moving. 

“Goggles, Keiji, help me move this cooler into the van!” Hange shouted. It would be a lot easier, and hopefully would lower the risk of worsening his injuries. The two men rushed over and helped Hange carry the heavy cooler into the back of the van. Moblit was talking urgently with the fishermen. Hange crawled into the back of the van with the cooler to check out his injuries.

“Goggles, I need you to take notes!” she said. 

“Yep!” Goggles pulled out his phone. “Ready!”

“Okay.” Hange peered at the merman’s head while pulling on a pair of rubber gloves. “The injuries to his head and neck aren’t that deep,” she said, peeling back the blood-soaked bandages that had been put there by the fishermen. “If we keep them covered and clean, they should be pretty much fine. His tail—” before Hange even got to the damage on his tail, she noticed the deep gash on his arm. “Fuck, his arm’s going to need stitches for sure. Text Nifa and have those ready as soon as we get there. His tail too. It’s pretty deep, and he’s lost a lot of scales.” Hange jerked her head towards Moblit. “Moblit! Either get in and drive or get left here!” 

“Yes, Dr. Hange!” Keiji closed the back doors of the van and in a few seconds they were off. 

Keiji and Goggles kept the cooler steady for Hange while she worked on keeping the merman stable. Fortunately, they made even better time going back than they had getting to the pier. They carefully rushed the injured merman into the hospital room where Hange immediately started thoroughly cleaning and stitching up his wounds, all the while pointing out to her students exactly how she was going about it. His arm, as she pointed out, was the worst of his injuries, since the cuts on his tail hadn’t extended to his fins. 

“So, he’ll be okay?” Nifa asked. 

“Depends.” Hange answered, cleaning herself up.

“Depends on what?” Moblit asked.

“On the character of merpeople. On whether or not the other two who died were members of his family, or pod, or if they were friends or not. On whether or not this little guy is really like any other fish in the sea, or if he’s going through horrible loss.” Hange rubbed at her eyes under her glasses. “Emotional toil can have a serious effect on physical health. He is very badly injured, and while yes, they’re mostly just flesh wounds, no broken bone, no damage to any organs, we can’t really be sure if he’s going to be fine until he gains consciousness and we can learn more about him.” Hange looked over at the heavily bandaged and restricted merman who had been moved into one of the smaller medical pools. His face was drawn, brows wrinkled together in discomfort even as he was unconscious. 

“I don’t know if he’s going to make it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE BITCH. BET YOU WEREN'T EXPECTING TO SEE THIS AGAIN. Seriously, I haven't updated since fuckign what? May? March?? I'm so sorry to keep you all hanging. It's all been a combination of serious writer's block and depression over Moblit and Erwin's deaths that have led to me not updating this in forever, but hopefully by posting a couple chapters it'll rekindle some interest in us all. Hope you're enjoying it! Or having your soul ripped out by it since it's a little angsty. Either way. Cheers!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's been so long since I worked on this and I'm not even proofreading the chapters before posting them I honestly can't remember what the fuck happens here

Hange sat at the edge of the pool, staring at the merman. It had been about four and a half hours since Moblit had gone home to his overcrowded student apartment, where he’d likely use up money and energy that he didn’t have on making an extra lunch for Hange. Good kid, she thought. Hange knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep. She wasn’t taking notes on the merman anymore. There wasn’t a lot to say, since he was still asleep. Although, that was a thing in itself to say. Asleep, not unconscious. She’d noted the switch, and when it had occurred. She’d written the specifics of his injuries, including some older-looking scars, and all of his physical attributes. Judging from his facial features and small build, she’d guessed that he was an adolescent, somewhere between fourteen and seventeen years old. 

Aside from the scarring and bandaged head wounds, he was quite… pretty, Hange thought. His nose protruded more than what she’d seen from pictures of other merpeople, and turned up slightly at the end. His face was rounder, as well. His face looked nearly human to Hange, save for the bluish-grey scales dusted across his cheekbones, and large fins covering his earholes, likely preventing damage from fast-rushing water. She wrote that down. There were dark circles under his eyes that worried her. Even while sleeping, he looked absolutely exhausted. Hange wrote down on her notepad to make sure he had vitamin supplements as well as food, only to realise she’d already written it down a page previous.

Hange sighed and yawned. She checked the time on her phone. 2:17AM. She supposed that that meant she’d have to talk to Erwin tomorrow. Ah, well. She had a lot of notes. She was nearly finished her notebook, not that it had been anywhere near blank beforehand. She took another look at the merman. She still didn’t want to leave him. She was tired, but too excited to sleep… maybe. She stretched and finally stood from where she was standing. Well, in any case, a bathroom break couldn’t hurt. She’d done about all she could for now. 

As she left, a thin shard of anxiety that she was going to miss something important wormed its way into her bloodstream. She knew it was irrational, it always was. The merman hadn’t moved at all from 4:47PM, when they first came in contact with him, and 10:03PM when he’d slipped from unconsciousness into sleep. He’d barely moved any more since then. She might miss him turn onto his side, but that was about it. She yawned again while washing her hands. She knew she should get some sleep. Or have coffee and watch a quiet movie on her phone so that she should keep monitoring… No, no. Hange decided to go into Moblit’s locker instead to get the pillow and blanket that he kept in there. She’d go to sleep, and if the merman moved significantly she’d wake up for sure. She set a towel down under the blanket, in case there was splashing. No good having Moblit cross with her for getting his things wet, even if the only reason he had the things was for her. After all, why else would he always leave his locker unlocked? 

Hange wrote down the time she lay down to sleep in her notebook. 2:44. Not the latest she’d ever stayed at work. Not that Erwin would ever pay her overtime…

She dreamt of glittering blue-grey waves. 

 

“Dr. Hange?” someone was poking her. “Dr. Hange, wake up.”

“Mrrghhnn…” Hange rubbed at her eyes. “Where’r m’ glass—” her glasses were placed into her hand. “Oh, good.” she slipped them on. “Morning, Moblit.”

“Dr. Hange, were you here all night?”

“Mhmm.”

Moblit sighed. “I brought you a coffee.”

Hange grinned. “Moblit, you’re the best.” she stretched, popping her arm, and yawned. “I’d better go see Erwin, what time is it?”

“Umm… 4:48.” Moblit said. God bless him for always knowing that she wanted exact times, not estimates, like "a quarter to five." What good was that for keeping notes?

“Ugh, so early…” Hange said, scribbling the time down. 

“Work starts in less than fifteen minutes, Dr. Hange.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Hange said. She looked over at the merman. Obviously she should go and talk to Erwin now, but she still wanted to keep an eye on him. He’d been sleeping much longer than she had, he could wake up at any minute. She took a thoughtful sip of coffee. 

“Has he woken up at all?” Moblit asked.

“Nope. I think I’ll stay and keep monitoring him. If he sleeps for much longer we might want to check for brain damage, but then again…”

“We don’t know anything about merpeople’s sleep schedules.”

“Or brain chemistry.” Hange replied. “I can't even tell yet if he has a central nervous system or not. Still, better to be on the safe side and check. God, I wish we had decent equipment.”

“You haven’t reported in to Erwin yet, I guess.”

“Nope.”

Moblit nodded. “I could take your notebook and go over it with him, if you like?” Hange knew that Moblit prided himself in being able to read Hange’s excited chicken-scratching. Her father had always said that it was a sign that she was meant to be a doctor. He’d always been incredibly supportive of her passion for science. She remembered the time that she’d found a frog and hidden it in the laundry room, where of course, he’d found it. He promised not to tell her mother, although now Hange knew that he had told her, but convinced her not to bother Hange about it. He had never protested against Hange keeping the frog, only researched to make sure that it wasn’t poisonous, and helped her find proper food for him. She’d named him Mouthwash because of his green colour. Speaking of naming things, she ought to come up with something for the merman.

People said not to name animals that you didn’t intend to keep, since you didn’t want to become attached, but Hange had never had a problem with naming the creatures who passed through Fins of Freedom. And they couldn’t just keep calling him “the merman,” could they? She pulled her phone out and started looking up names. 

The other employees began trickling in as she did this, and she directed them to go and take care of the other animals while she kept an eye on the merman. 

After a while, and a few good name ideas, she decided it would be a good idea to check the merman’s injuries. His head would probably be fine, but it had been a while since she’d last changed the bandages on his arm, and they could probably use a good, careful cleaning. 

The merman stirred when she touched his arm, but he didn’t wake. 

“Hello, there.” she said to him. “Don’t mind me, just cleaning this wound of yours out. Quite nasty, isn’t it? This might sting, bud.” she started to gently work rubbing alcohol into the cut, when the merman jerked and hissed loudly at her. Hange gave a shout of alarm, gripping tighter to his arm, and he reached over and firmly bit her.

“Dr. Hange!” Moblit shouted. 

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” Hange said, sharp teeth still imbedded in her arm. She stopped moving, and took the cotton swab off the merman’s arm."Moblit, write down that he _does_ have a central nervous system, and he  _does_ feel pain. It's very important." She turned her gaze to the merman. His eyes were the same colour as his scales, glittering green and violet, and not remotely human. She prayed she hadn’t been wrong. 

“Good morning, bud. I know, you’re scared, and that probably wasn’t the best thing to wake up to. But I promise, I’m just trying to help you, okay? You’re not in any danger, okay? I’m just trying to clean this cut of yours.”

The blazing eyes narrowed, but he released her arm from his mouth. 

“Thank you.” Hange said. She looked at her arm. He had punctured her, a little bit, leaving four little beads of blood. “Gonna have to clean this, too, I guess.” she said, in the same calm tone. She wet another cotton swab with alcohol and dabbed at her arm. She smiled at the merman. “We match now, eh?” 

The merman reached over with his good arm, and took the cotton swab from Hange. Hange stared as he dabbed at his arm with it, not wincing any more.

“Moblit… write that down.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so that's what happened! I remember now. Good stuff coming up next. You know, probably. ;)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hange names the merman. He doesn't like it.

Levi glared at the bottom of the small pool he’d been placed in. It was round, it was hard, it was all one, artificial colour like nothing natural ever was. But that wasn’t what was bothering him. 

It was dirty. 

Not very dirty, he supposed. The worst thing was the small spot of scum at the bottom of the pool. But still. The ocean bloomed with algae and coral, and all fish went where they would, but this. This was not the ocean. There were no rocks or anemones for life to live on, and he was the only fish. This wasn’t like the ocean which was infinite and endless. This was a small cramped space which only fit him. Him and this scum. He curled his body away from it slightly, but the pool didn’t give him much room to move. He didn’t want any chance of touching this disgusting land filth. He didn’t particularly want to be filtering the same water it sat in. He continued to glare at the scum, as if that could make it go away. Perhaps if he just focused all of his burning energy and concentration on this spot of filth then he wouldn’t be able to think about anything else. 

That would probably be best for now.

He could hear the sounds of a human approaching. _Futstebs_ , was that the word? He couldn’t quite remember. He looked up and saw long fingers lightly brushing the surface of the water. He poked his head out. It was the one with the messy hair and the crazy smile. The one he’d bitten. 

“Hello, there!” she said in a cheery tone. “We met the other day, I believe. I’m Dr. Hange. Do you have a name?”

Levi certainly did have a name. Not that he was going to tell her that, though. He simply stared at her, and then looked back to glare at the dirt in the pool. Maybe she'd get the hint and remove it.

“Well, if you won’t tell me, I’m going to have to give you a name myself. Can’t just keep calling you ‘that merman dude,’ now can I?” 

Levi did not respond. 

“Still, it’s very difficult to come up with the perfect name. Especially for a specimen as unique as yourself. I tried to think of names of famous merpeople, but I couldn't come up with any good ones. Funny enough, we don’t know much of anything about your species.”

Levi continued glaring at the scum. 

“So I turned to my trusty friend, Greek mythology.” Dr. Hange continued. “Do you know any Greek myths?”

Whether he did or not, Levi didn’t answer Dr. Hange’s question. 

“Well, I thought about it pretty hard, honestly I probably wasted a lot of time on it. I researched children of Poseidon, the sea god, and went chasing down all sorts of information until I found what I think is a very fitting name, given what we know about you.”

Levi was trying hard to ignore the noisy human scientist, but he couldn’t help listening. He’d always liked hearing stories.

“The person who the name belongs to wasn’t a mermaid, although she was the granddaughter of an Oceanid named Dione. One of the things she’s most famous for was turning Narcissus into a flower, but that’s not why I picked the name. She had many siblings, and her mother, Niobe, was very proud of this. Niobe taunted the Titan goddess Leto, who only had two children. Very bad idea.” Dr. Hange interrupted herself. “Never mock a goddess, especially a Greek goddess. Especially a Greek goddess who’s children are the powerful gods Apollo and Artemis. The two twins killed all of Niobe’s children on Leto’s behalf. All but Chloris.”

An unwelcome shiver ran down Levi’s spine. 

“When we found you there were two other merpeople with you. Were they your siblings?”

They weren’t. They might as well have been. Levi didn’t answer. 

“What do you think of the name?”

He hated it. He couldn’t tell her that. Merpeople were secretive for a reason. Nothing good ever came of interacting with humans. He wouldn’t talk to her. Isabel and Farlan were gone, there was nothing he could do about that; but the least he could do was protect the ideals of their people. 

He didn’t answer Dr. Hange. He closed his eyes tight and slipped under the surface of the water. 

The scum wasn’t bothering him as much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still haven't given up on this fic! I am still trying to work on it, even if I don't have much inspiration. The new chapter of snk with them at the sea was so funny to me when I thought about this fic though. Levi just being like "don't go in the water it might be poisonous" and then here I have him... Literally a fucking fish. God bless.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Understanding someone else is difficult, especially when you're not actually communicating with them.

Hange stared deeply into the eyes of the three-legged juvenile sea turtle. 

“Do you really think he understands you?” Moblit asked while ripping lettuce leaves off a head of lettuce.

“Huh?” Hange replied, poking the turtle in the face with a lettuce leaf.

“The merman.” 

“Oh, Chloris.” 

“Yeah…” Moblit bit his lip. It was a nervous habit that Hange had noticed in him ages ago. “When you talk to him, do you think he knows what you’re saying?”

“Maybe. I think so. I’m not sure. He might.” Hange set her red bull down on the work desk next to the turtle. “It’s not very likely. I do definitely think he’s sentient—which is the answer to a huge question we’ve wondered about merpeople for years—I mean, he seems to be able to recognize emotions and tone.”

Moblit nodded. “It’s agree.”

“But it’s wildly unlikely that he speaks English.” Hange said. 

“You don’t have to speak the same language as someone to communicate with them.” Moblit pointed it. 

“No, I know.” Hange replied. “But it does help when you’re trying to learn specific information about a widely unknown culture. 

Moblit laughed, and then paused. “Dr. Hange, can I ask about Chloris’s name?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Well,” Moblit fidgeted with his piece of lettuce, tearing it into very tiny pieces. “Um, isn’t it kind of a dick move?”

“Most of the names I give are dick moves.” Hange said, picking up the turtle and holding it in front of her face. “Hi, Mr. Berner, I’m Lefty!” she said in a slow, deep turtle voice. The turtle waved its stumpy left leg at Moblit. 

He smiled. “Sure, yeah, but if you’re right and Chloris is sentient, then… well it just doesn’t feel right. I know we just talked about the language barrier and it probably doesn’t matter to him, but still… It seems a bit harsh. Even for you.” He fed Lefty a piece of lettuce. 

“I know.” Hange sighed. She set lefty down in his tank. 

“So why’d you pick it?”

“I guess… as a sort of test? I wanted to see how he’d react. I wanted to see if he understood, what he felt towards the other two merpeople that died, and… well in truth there is some difficulty in trying to find a suitable name for someone you don’t know anything about.”

Moblit nodded. “Well, I guess we’d better find out more about him.” Hange smiled and nodded. “Did he pass your tests?”

Hange sighed and rubbed her neck. “I don’t even know.” she checked the time on her phone. “But, I’d better go and check on him. I hate leaving him alone!”

“I know,” Moblit said. “But Nifa’s in there with him. You’ve got to stop worrying so much, Dr. Hange.”

Hange laughed, loudly. “Well if that isn’t the pot calling the kettle black!” she tugged her rubber gloves off and tossed them into the garbage bin under the desk. “You’ll take care of Lefty?”

“Sure.”

“Thanks, Moblit.” Hange walked into the next room. Nina was in there, sweeping and singing along to the Moana soundtrack. Hange smiled. Nifa absolutely loved the movie. She’d taken Hange with her to go see it on opening night. Hange had liked it well enough, the music was good and all, but she had been hoping for more sea-life involvement. Nifa was a good singer, and Hange bobbed her head along to the rhythm of her voice as she peered into Chloris’s tank. What she saw nearly made her laugh out loud. Apparently Chloris agreed with her assessment of the music. His eyes were shut, and he lay back relaxed, almost looking as if he was asleep, but his tail swished gently in the water in time with Nifa’s singing. Hange giggled and fished her phone out of her pocket to film it. She waved at Goggles and Keji, who were checking water temperatures in the other pools. She held up a finger telling them to be quiet. She didn’t want Nifa to stop singing, and she didn’t want the merman to notice that he was being watched. He didn’t seem like the type who would enjoy others seeing him happy. She giggled again. It reminded her of when her niece had gone through an angst phase. Remembering that made her wonder again exactly how old Chloris was. 

…It gave her an interesting idea. She might need a couple days, and Erwin was already getting swamped with emails from their governmental aid about Chloris but… maybe it was worth a shot.

* * *

 

“Heya, grump!” Levi’s least favourite obnoxious scientist shouted. 

He growled softly in recognition. 

“I have someone I want to introduce you to!” Levi raised his head out of the water to look. It was a young man with blonde hair and large, curious eyes. “This is Armin, he’s our new intern here at Fins of Freedom. He’s about your age, I think.”

Levi stared at them both incredulously. This kid couldn’t be over twenty, at the very most. Was Hange teasing him? Farlan had teased him a lot about his size and facial features, but Hange looked serious. Did she actually think she was the same age as this infant? Levi was closer to forty than fourteen, for God’s sake! He wanted to lash out and correct her angrily, but… he’d already decided he wasn’t speaking to her. It wasn’t easy to speak human languages, anyways… but by the stars, he didn’t want them thinking of him as a child. That could open up a whole host of problems for him. If they thought he still needed the supervision or guidance of adult merfolk, (not that he’d ever had any) they would probably never return him to the sea, if they had been considering it at all. 

Back to the sea…he still had his reef territory, but now… he didn’t really want to go there. Not without Farlan and Isabel. Thinking of them, his throat grew tight. 

“Hey, Earth to Chloris!” Hange was waving her hand in his face. Levi swatted it away crossly. She laughed. “Welcome back. Are you hungry?”

Levi’s eyes darted over to where the kid was holding a bucket of Atlantic croakers. They weren’t his favourite, but he was hungry. 

“Be careful feeding him,” Hange instructed him. “He bites.” 

Levi rolled his eyes. That was one time! The kid knelt down to carefully give him the fish. Levi scoffed and took the bucket out of his hands. He didn’t need to be fucking hand-fed, thank you very much. He ruffled the boy’s hair. Partially in thanks, partially as a gesture of seniority. He didn’t really want to be condescending, but showing that this kid was younger than him seemed necessary. The look of surprise on the kid’s face was pretty funny. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ridiculously enough, it seems like I only ever work on this damn thing after going to the beach. And since I do not live near a beach, (like a proper one where I can splash around, not a DANGEROUS UNDERTOW LAKE DO NOT SWIM HERE kinda beach) I've been working on this fic for well over a year.  
> Also, I was supposed to be doing characterization for Hange's squad, but I love Armin too much and dammit I need another person in this story who isn't dead in cannon.

**Author's Note:**

> This is technically for Magic!AU day for Levihan week... even though there is no Levihan in it... YET  
> but this is not the end yet!  
> EDIT: I have changed the name of the title.


End file.
